Saturday, December 13, 2008

On the Obama VictoryBy, Khalil Al-Puerto Rikani

First, I would like to congratulate President-Elect, Senator Barack Hussein Obama for running an excellent campaign and winning the presidency. I guess hope did win over fear this time. Secondly, I wrote these comments down a few days after the election, but due to the demand in my live (including taking graduate level classes) I was not able to get this out sooner. Since the time I have jotted down these ideas until now, I seen that many of the things I am talking about are starting to be answered. I also think there are some issues there that no one else has talked about – such as the first point and the second. Dr. Ali Mazrui, a Kenyan professor of political science (and one of my teachers) who teaches at my alma mater, SUNY-Binghamton has just published something the other day making a very similar claims to my second point. However, we came to our conclusions independently of each other. The third point here was thought of before Ayman Al-Zawahiri (as the media calls him) made his statement about Obama. Another case in point, is point number five. At this point in time, he is setting up of a centrist-conservative goverment as opposed a leftist government. Therefore, it seems like he is not moving back to the left

US Blacks v. Black ImmigrantsObama is not an African-American but an American African. (Prof Ali Mazrui has used this distinction in some of his books). His roots are not in the African-American experience. A point to keep in mind is that not all Blacks are African-Americans. It was only about a little less than midway through the primaries when African-Americans started to accept him as one of their own. There are definitely many distinct differences in beliefs and values among Blacks from the US and those from the Caribbean, Latin America, or Africa.

Non-practicing Muslim or An Opening for MuslimsIt seems that the only type of Muslim that is acceptable to mainstream America is the one who does not really practice Islam. Obama represents one who has Muslim roots yet does not practice Islam. Is this the only acceptable type of “Muslim”? On the other side of the coin, could this be the opening up of the door for there to one day be a practicing Muslim in the office of the president. I think this is what trully scared right-wingers, the Chistian right, neo-cons, and Muslim haters. It was not that they really believed that Obama was some sort of Muslim in the closet (at least the leaders of these movements did not really believe this; it was propaganda for the masses). Their fear was more based upon the breaking down of Islamophobia and Americans actually coming to terms with Muslims and perhaps electing one some day in the future. This potential is scarier to them than the reality of Obama’s Islamic roots.

What affect will this have on Arab racism? How will racism among Arabs have them react towards Blacks? I think we are already starting to see this with Ayman Azh-Zhawahiri Al-Khariji At-Takfiri’s statement about Obama being an ‘`abeedul-bait’ (house Negro or literally ‘a house slave). The fact that a Black man has won the highest seat in the world is a huge blow to Arab racism, and I do not know if this point and its ramifications are well understood yet? Arab leaders will now have to be “subservient” to a Black president. They can no longer claim that Blacks are inferior. Or perhaps maybe this may motivate them to stop kissing the US’s butt?

President that the world can look up to like JFKWe saw that the world was ecstatic when Obama won the presidency. Simply put, people want an America that they can look up to. As the old cliché goes, “you win more bees with honey.” Bush’s cowboy politics only helped to galvanize the world and help to breed more terrorists. This (in addition to racism) is why Ayman Azh-Zhawahir Al-Khariji At-Takfiri really hates Obama.

Will he move to the left?Now that the general campaign is over will Obama be moving back to the left? General election campaigns are known for presidential candidates moving to the center; as opposed to primaries where each side is trying to appeal to its base and are more leftist or rightist (depending on which side their party represents).

Rhetoric on WarI hope all that “tough guy” talk about Afghanistan and Pakistan was just that – talk. I hope he was just trying to appeal to the right. For me, I cannot help support anymore wars in the world; especially, when these wars have a devastating effect on the Muslims.

Racism in the US is not over.Definitely, racism is not over. I am sure there are many out there who would like to believe it is. They want to forget that racism ever existed and sweep it under the rug. They can now condone racism or turn a blind eye to it, by saying, “How could there be racism in the US when we have a Black president?”

Is neoconservatism over?This election was a victory for religious progressives over the religious right who like to tell religious practicing people that they should vote for nuts like Bush because he is anti-abortion, for example. While issues of family values are very important to me and I am strongly opposed to things like abortion and homosexuality, I will not vote for a war-mongering, racist, Muslim-hater just because he/she shares these values on family with me. The fact that Obama is a religious man (as are most Black folk) also means that we, as American, are strongly opposed to atheism and extreme forms of secularism. I am sure there are many secularist humanists who would prefer a president who wants religion to play no part in politics. For them, I guess, Obama was just a lesser of two evils if this is a main concern for them.

Disclaimer

This weblog tries to draw from many different ideas, cultures, religions, and methodologies that have helped to shaped whom I am. I may differ with some of the authors of some of material I post or links that I have here. My other blog "Islam is the Sunnah and Sunnah is Islam" is more oriented toward the correct Salafi understanding of Islam.

I appreciate if anyone has any criticism with regards to my blog, that you bring it to my attention.

Khalil

About Me

I am 35 years old, and I adhere to the Salafi methodology/way. I was born in the Bronx to New York Puerto Rican (Catholic) parents. During my teenage years, I starting to learn about my history since of course they don't teach us that in school. As a teenager, I had a lot of interaction with "Latino" and African-American Muslims. That lead to me taking my shahadah during my first semester of college. I eventually earned a bachelor's of art with a double major in Arabic and political science at the State University of New York at Binghamton. My concentration was in the Middle East and North Africa Studies. In 2000, I was offered a scholarship to study at Umm Al-Qura University. I studied there from 2000 to 2005. May Allah reward King Fahd (rahimahullah) for giving me a scholarship to teach in Saudi, Amin. Alhamdulillah, I have been fortunate to have sat with several scholars in Saudi Arabia. I currently live in Saudi Arabia with my wife and two children. I also hold a master's in TESOL.